WEBVTT DAY CALLED THESHOOTINGS AND AFTER YOUR EVIL.ERIKA: A BOSTON MAN FREED AFTERSPENDING MORE THAN THREE DECADESIN PRISON FOR A MURDER HEINSISTS HE DID NOT COMMIT HASNOW FILED A LAWSUIT AGAINST THESTATE.WE SPOKE WITH HIM AND HISATTORNEY ABOUT HIS ONGOINGSEARCH FOR JUSTICE.>> HE SAYS FREEDOM ISINCREDIBLE, BUT HE ALSO BELIEVESMONEY WOULD HELP A GREAT DEAL.>> I'M LIVING AT SOMEONE ELSE'SHOUSE THREE OR FOUR DAYS,SOMEONE ELSE'S HOUSE THREE ORFOUR DAYS.I HAVE TO RELY ON PEOPLE.>> THIS IS WHAT SIX MONTHS OFFREEDOM LOOKS LIKE FOR THE SOUTHBOSTON NATIVE.>> I DON'T ASK PEOPLE FOR MONEY.WHEN THEY SEE I CANNOT EVEN BUYA CUP OF COFFEE, THEY ME ACOUPLE OF BOOKS.>> HE STALLED A LAWSUIT AGAINSTTHE COMMONWEALTH OFMASSACHUSETTS.>> I HAD A JOB IN A PLACE BEFORECAME TO PRISON.THEY'VE ALL BEEN TAKEN AWAY FROMME FOR SOMETHING I DIDN'T DO.>> HE SERVED 36 YEARS IN PRISONFOR THE MURDER OF ROBERTLAMONICA IN BRAINTREE BEFORE HISRELEASE AND APRIL.A JUDGE AWARDED HIM A NEW TRIAL,CITING A POLICE REPORT THATSURFACED SUGGESTING ANOTHER MANCOULD HAVE COMMITTED THE CRIME,AND PROBLEMS WITH THE EYEWITNESSACCOUNT AT THE CENTER OF THESTATE'S CASE.THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICEDECIDED NOT TO RETRY HIM FOR THECRIME.HOWARD FRIEDMAN IS HIS ATTORNEY.>> FRED DOESN'T HAVE THEINFORMATION.BUT WE HAVE TO SHOW IS HE'S NOTTHE PERSON WHO COMMITTED THEMURDER.>> HE FILED A LAWSUIT UNDERSPECIAL LAW PASSED IN 2000 ORWHICH ALLOWS WRONG LEAGUECONVICTED AD IMPRISONED PEOPLETO WHILE CIVIL SUITS AGAINST THESTATE AND RECEIVE UP TO $500,000IN COMPENSATION.>> 500 THOUSAND DOLLARS DOESN'TGO FAR ENOUGH TO COMPENSATE HIMFOR WHAT HAPPENED.>> I'M STRUGGLING CONSTANTLY TOLIVE, AND I'M JUST STRUGGLING.>> HIS ATTORNEY SAYS THISLAWSUIT COULD DRAG OUT FOR TWOTO THREE YEARS.THE ATTORNEY GENERAL DEFENDS THESTATE IN LAWSUITS LIKE THIS.THE AG'S OFFICE DECLINING TOCOMMENT ON THIS CASE BUT SAYS IT

Freed after spending more than three decades in prison for a murder he insists he did not commit, Fred Weichel has filed a civil lawsuit against the state.

5 Investigates spoke with Weichel and his attorney about his ongoing search for justice.

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Weichel, 65, said freedom is incredible, but added that money would help a great deal.

“I'm living at someone else's house three or four days, someone else's house two or three days,” he said. “I have to rely on people.”

That is what nearly six months of freedom now looks like for the South Boston native.

Fred Weichel is suing the state

“I don't ask people for money, but when they see I can't even buy a cup of coffee, they throw me a couple of bucks,” he said.

As national “Wrongful Conviction Day” was marked with a rally at the State House, Weichel filed a lawsuit against the commonwealth of Massachusetts, seeking damages.

“I had a job before I came to prison. I had a place before I came to prison,” Weichel said. “I got it all taken away from me for something I didn't do.”

Weichel served 36 years in prison for the 1980 murder of Robert LaMonica in Braintree before his release in April.

A judge awarded him a new trial, citing a Braintree police report that surfaced suggesting another man could have committed the crime and problems with the eyewitness account at the center of the state's case.

In August, after Weichel had been released on bail, the Norfolk District Attorney's office decided not to retry Weichel for the crime.

Attorney Howard Friedman is representing Weichel in the lawsuit.

“We don't know who did it,” Friedman said. “Fred does not have that information, so what we have to show is that he's not the person who committed the murder.”

Frederick Weichel v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Weichel filed his lawsuit under a special law passed in 2004 that allows wrongfully convicted and imprisoned people to file civil suits against the state and receive up to $500,000 in compensation.

5 Investigates asked Friedman why his client deserves that money.

“Because he was convicted of murder, sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, and spent 36 years in prison,” the lawyer said. “Five hundred thousand dollars doesn't go far enough to compensate him for what happened.”